A Kurdish rebel group has vowed not to release three German tourists it has kidnapped unless Germany renounces its crackdown on the PKK.
The three climbers were seized from their camp on Mount Ararat in Turkey's eastern Agri province on Wednesday.
The PKK, defined as a terrorist organisation by the US, EU and Turkey, said all three men were in good health.
Analysts say that kidnapping, though used by the group during the 1990s, is now a rare tactic.
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German citizen held by US forces as terror suspect ... up a camp at 3,200m (10,500ft) on the mountain, the highest in Turkey and a popular tourist destination.
PKK 'mouthpiece'
"The German tourists will not be released unless the German state announces that it has given up its hostile policies against the Kurdish people and the PKK," said the statement, published by a news agency close to the group.
In June, Germany banned a Kurdish television station which the country's interior minister said was a mouthpiece for the armed group. Germany also extradited two PKK militants to Turkey last year.
A German government spokeswoman said officials were "working intensively" to resolve the hostage situation.
Mehmet Cetin, local governor of the eastern Agri region, said security forces had sealed the mountain off while they searched for the kidnapped climbers.
"The tourists are in good health, but the Turkish state needs to stop its operation in the field in order to ensure the safety" of the hostages, the PKK said according to Firat.
Turkey has in recent months stepped up its campaign against PKK bases in northern Iraq, in response to an increase in attacks by the group.
The PKK seeks autonomy for Kurds in south-eastern Turkey. More than 30,000 people have been killed since the group began its armed campaign in 1984.
(BBC)
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